Would you believe that there wasn’t any earth-shattering publishing news this week in publishing? WalMart didn’t slash the price of hardcovers to 99 cents, a new e-reader didn’t debut, and we’re all still here. Thank goodness there are still links:
GalleyCat asked the provocative question Do Authors Really Need Agents? For the most part the answer was, “Um… yes. They do.”
In e-book news, Amazon announced that they created a PC Kindle app (link via Greg Peisert), so you can now read your Kindle books on Kindles, iPhones, and your computer. I’m told you can also still read books on paper, but I haven’t been able to confirm that rumor.
Editorial Anonymous has a great response to a reader who wonders if editors (and presumably agents) know they are dream crushers. EA makes a crucial distinction: we hold your work in our hands, not your dreams. No one should be able to crush your dreams with a rejection. She writes, “dreams are achieved through your hard work, and not through the miraculous intervention of others.” Word.
A former vice-presidential candidate has a new book out, and the Associated Press got their hands on an early leaked copy (Palin reportedly is none too happy about the leak and the review). Sarah Weinman, writing for Daily Finance, took a look at the economics of the book advance and calculates that Harper would have to sell around 400,000 copies in hardcover to break even. Is that a safe bet? The Millions’ guess (and mine as well): you betcha.
In The Rejectionist news, Le R. announced the winners of her form rejection contest, which had such hysterical entries I don’t know how she even picked winners. She also took note of this week’s query trend: angels. Particularly angels tempting girls with their “smoking hot bods and snowy snowy wings.” Wow. Heaven help us all. (get it??? get it???)
@lilliamr noted a PW article about a new query service making the rounds that would pre-screen queries for agents to make sure that they conform to their guidelines and genres of interest before the agent sees them. Victoria Strauss at Writer Beware sums up the mixed history of these types of ventures. I won’t be signing up, but all you have to do is take a look at Jessica Faust’s rapturous post about her query holiday to get a sense of how much of a strain it is these days to keep up with the query pile. Yes, aspiring authors are busy too and all that, but the time it takes to read them all (let alone respond) may be approaching a point of unsustainability.
Twitter lists are fast becoming the hot new thing in the Twittersphere, and thanks very much to GalleyCat for including me in their Best Agent Twitter feeds list. I’ve created some nascent lists of my own that will continue to grow, including my clients, editors, writers, publishers, agents, and other non-editor publishing types.
In self-publishing news, Andrew Sullivan announced that he is working with Blurb.com to create a self-published coffee table book version of his View From Your Window posts, and is crowd-sourcing an estimate of what the initial print run should be. An interesting experiment indeed.
HTMLGIANT notes a Cormac McCarthy interview wherein he suggests that the days of the 700 page MOBY DICK-style literary doorstopper are completely over: “Nobody will read it. I don’t care how good it is, or how smart the readers are. Their intentions, their brains are different.”
And finally, can I get a NaNoWriMo status update? How are all the Word Marathoners doing out there?
Have a great weekend!
Kind of surprised you didn't mention Harlequin Enterprises news about Carina Press – is that because it's strictly an e-press?
karla-
Could you link to it? I'm definitely going to miss some stuff!
I'm at 14,000 words for NaNoWriMo. Not where I want to be, but still more than I'd ever written in two straight weeks.
Thanks for the link to Editorial Anonymous. So true about dreams.
I can never figure out how to leave a link!
http://www.carinapress.com
Just broke 31,000 words for Nanowrimo last night! Woot!
29k words for me.
I'll query you as soon as I'm done.
kthxbai.
Joke.
There was a press release, too, but I can't find the link. Sorry.
You're asking for NaNo stats? For reals?
OK. 12,600. But I get to spend nine hours on airplanes with my laptop next week. So I hope to catch up. The good news: I actually like what I'm writing as I write it. At least, most of it.
And no, I hadn't seen that kitten video (previous blog post). My kids will die from the cuteness.
Can someone explain to me what you do with a 50k word novel when you're done with it. Is it just an exercise to jumpstart your ambitions, or am I missing something? I'm thinking it has something to do with why we have so many YA novelists these days.
Angels, huh? Sparkly ones with wizard powers? How about wereangelpires?
Hovering around 10,000 words. Pretty sure I won't make 50,000 by Dec. 1, but I'm ok with that. My goal was to force myself to make writing a habit, and I think it worked. We'll see in a few weeks…
In related news, my novel is YA paranormal and is about…angels. Dammit. Started with the idea before they became the next big thing. But I also think it's kind of a unique take. My angels aren't angelic in the traditional sense. Still, though…dammit.
20K for me! I really can't allow myself to read all the links you posted… OK, except for the Cormac McCarthy interview. Thanks!
Thanks for asking us about NaNo – we need to share our progress but our families would rather we just shut up already.
I'm at 20005 words, right on schedule and going strong.
Haha! Yeah, I got it.
I can't say that I'm attempting the NaNoWriMo this year, but I do have plans to be completely finished (revisions and all) by the end of this year! *crosses fingers*
Wish me luck!
400 words away from the 30k mark on Surviving Reject High.
Can I get a hells yeah. Who knew NaNo would be so much fun.
I didn't do NaNoWriMo (hell, I've never done it!). I was too busy pounding away at the rough draft of my other novel I started in October, and I'm proud to say I've finished the rough draft at 63,500, though I'm giving 20,000 words to myself for the re-write. Plus, I'm busy with editing half of Witch Tourniquet so I can send it off to another beta reader. I hope to start querying early next year–about time, too!
I've never believed that anyone crushes dreams, except maybe Simon from American Idol, but I think he openly admits he's a dream crusher anyway. I believe dreams can be achieved through hard word, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I occasionally watch The Fairly Oddparents and sometimes wonder what it would be like to have them. I could wish I was published, but I think I'd be left with a lackluster feeling knowing that I didn't do any hard work to earn that.
Plus, as a slush pile reader I know I'm not crushing dreams. I do have hope for some of the manuscripts I've rejected, because they were good, but I couldn't accept them because they didn't fit the types of stories the e-zine looks for.
The PW article about the new query service mentioned a weekly e-mail to agents letting them know they had outstanding queries. Notices about messages. Why would an agent sign up for that?
Well, Mr. McCarthey, I absolutely loved all 782 pages of Susanna Clarke's Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrel.
But as for Moby Dick- please, that NEEDED editing. I understand it was about obsession but all those pages of whale info- zzzzzz.
"But as for Moby Dick- please, that NEEDED editing. I understand it was about obsession but all those pages of whale info- zzzzzz."
That's how I feel about most classics written in the 19th century. Liked Frakenstein though.
Thanks for the links!
I'm trudging along at 14K for NaNo, but I'm happy with it—finally breaking my inner editor and writing this darned thing. An editor told me yesterday, when I mentioned I should just quit and pick up…anything else…that I was in a common state in the NaNosphere. Apparently many writers hit a wall half-way through. Good to know I'm not the only one.
Had to choose between edit-madness on my WIP, or diving into NaNo with that crazy new novel idea, so . . . I decided to do both.
And start a blog.
I'm pretty sure there's a diagnosis for taking on too much writing at once, but I don't have time to look it up.
wordver: restrupl (I'll get a rrrupl minutes of rrrest in December)
Thanks for posting the angel trend. I'm always curious about that sort of thing, but have no way of knowing about it unless you tell me. So thanks! I feel a bit more up to speed, about something, which is nice as most of the time I'm in an info-less bubble. I live in Hamburg, Germany and have yet to learn how to say more than "I'd like a cappuccino, please" So the daily beast cheat sheet, your blog and facebook are all I have to keep me grounded. When given half a chance to do so, I just prattle on–as anyone reading this might be able to see…As it stands, I am participating in NaNoWriMo this year and just updated my word count. I'm just under 22,000–despite a terrible virus that has hit our household this week. Thank goodness it is not the flu. Anyone with that or any illness out there, my heart goes out to you. I forget how awful it is to be sick, it is never fun. Feel well. Have a good weekend.
What do you think about Harper/Collins Authonomy site? Helpful or harmful to new authors?
Do authors really need agents…this kinda strikes me along the same lines as "Do football games really need referees?" Not technically, but chances are, if you go without 'em, the rules get blurry and someone ends up hurt.
Am not doing NaNo, but weirdly started a new MS right at the end of October (so yeah, there's that cheater week in there I guess) and I'm at almost 30,000 words. I'm not really sure how, considering how badly I stalled out last week. I almost threw that white flag out in search of a truce, and then…BAM. More words came out. Cool, that.
LOL @ the whole "haven't been able to confirm that" thing on paper books. I love my paper books, okay. Love everything about 'em. But I am finding that, in some cases, the e-reader thing is equally appealing in its own right. So I do both. Naughty, I know. I'm going right to "real book" hell, I tell ya.
Thanks for the roundup, Nathan 🙂
This is my first year doing NaNo and I'm at 22,633 words. This is the first time any of my characters have taken on a life of their own and I'm loving it!
43K and I'm plugging away all weekend, when I'm not at the park, mall or grocery store.
susiej, I completely agree!
"Well, Mr. McCarthey, I absolutely loved all 782 pages of Susanna Clarke's Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell."
Every once in a while there's a doorstopper that's amazing.
Twitter lists are pretty nifty!
I'm currently a little over 69K for my NaNoWriMo novel, it's my first year and first time back from like a seven year break of writing little more than short fiction bits here and there. My end goal for NaNo this year is either 150K OR finishing my novel – I'd be happy with either ^__^
Dangit – I sort of wished I'd written my NaNo over steamy, hot angels instead of well – what I am writing…..
E-books are dead. Gotta sweep that old technology away, get rid of those old-fashioned binary code abstractions.
Luckily, there's a new technology on the horizon. It's truly amazing. Made from trees, believe it or not. An actual physical object with words impressed permanently on it. Memory problems? No more. Can't download? Thing of the past. Get rid of that e-reader, it's obsolete. We're going physical, folks. Remarkable.
Sorry to say I'm not doing NaNo this year. Decided it's better to take my time with this book, which sadly is taking a very long time. It's great fun to write, and I certainly do hope it shall be published some day, but I'm not used to writing mysteries. I'm so used to reading them and watching TV adaptations of them that my brain keeps trying to tell me "Case solved. Next!" *sigh* Afraid I don't know where I'm meant to be by this point in NaNo, if I were doing it, but my WIP is at 14814 words right now, and as soon as I'm done with this here reply I'm going to write more.
14,000 words but I'm not sure they count. The dictionary has what a million words in it, surely enough to tell a story, but it doesn't.
Holy crapola, I'm embarrassed to put my NaNo word count up here now. WHO ARE YOU ROBOTS AND HOW CAN YOU WRITE SO MUCH?!
Wow…
My NaNo project is on track at just over 20K words. Sadly, my husband, with no aspirations of ever publishing his book is blowing away my word count and having more fun in the process. Maybe there is something to not worrying so much about how good it is during the initial draft.
The WEbook query service strikes me as very disturbing. Did you notice that the PW article mentions that authors will be charged for the service in the future? Ick.
CreateSpace and BookSurge merged– I'd say that's pretty earth-shattering news for all the vanity publishers out there.
Amazon is going to elbow everyone else out of the POD market.
13,577, and I really need to catch up. No time to leave an interesting comment, sorry!
Somehow, I'm right on track with NaNoWriMo… I'm at 23,000 words. But I'll probably fall behind soon. I have exams coming up…
Rhimos: Is anyone else feeling that they book you're writing for NaNoWriMo is way better than the book in which you're currently seeking representation? I almost feel like I should stop querying for my completed novel right now because, if I ever do get an agent, I'd rather my NaNoWriMo book be my debut! **frustrated sighs.
Great links – I love the smutty angels thing. No NaNo'ing for me this year but I did finish another revision on my ms and it's almost ready for my critique group. Good luck to all those participating in NaNoWriMo and Happy Friday! 🙂
Broke 28K this morning and feeling pretty good about it. I've been pleasantly surprised by how much of what I'm writing might actually be, y'know, USABLE.
Word to Editorial Anonymous, for sure. Word, indeed.
People will still read the doorstoppers (The Historian, anyone?), but most of them are part of crazy popular series (HP, Twilight).
As for my NaNo count, I plead the 5th.
Now, off to read links.
I'm not NaNo'ing. Just plugging away at my newest short story before getting started on the next novel. I'm trying to keep up with both short and long works, but it's hard getting excited about the long ones, because the short ones actaully get me gratification (and money!) fairly quickly, as opposed to my first novel which is still making the rounds…
And HEY! I like long books! (But then, I read treatises on ancient history for fun, so I'm not exactly normal…)
Found the November 11th PW post about Carina Press, but I still can't figure out how to make it into a tidy linkable thing. :S
https://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6706550.html?rssid=192
Nano progress report: 19111.
Loved the interview with Cormac McCarthy!
Nano = 21,632 (I counted myself.) 🙂
Scott @ 11:36 a.m.
My story won't be complete at 50,000 words, and I'd certainly never query a draft as rough as the one I'm turning out, but for me — and many others — nano is a good lesson in discipline.
NaNo is at just over 18k. I vow to get ahead this weekend!
I was pretty much out with my NaNo before I even got started. My brother-in-spilled a drink all over my computer a few days before Nov. 1st.
It grew wings and is now in laptop heaven (R.I.P.).
I'm at 24,000 words on NaNoWriMo.
This is the second year for me doing this. So much fun!
The first time (two years ago), I finished around 89,000 words and then went on for two years finishing and editing (and editing) my novel. Two years ago,it was a real feat to complete the daily/monthly word goal.
This time around, I am spending more time rereading what I wrote the day(s) before, crafting, enjoying, plotting, savoring. I am more interested in quality than quantity, but I can't appreciate enough the energy of this project and participating in it. It certainly is an awesome event.
And my novel isn't about angels so much as it's about human beings, but there are angels involved and in the title…
-Rooty Too
I am at 23k.
More than 2k more than I wrote for all of NaNo last year. 😀
Scott, there isn't much one can do with a 50K novel. It's more the act of getting the words out, definitely an exercise to jump start ambitions, as you put it. It's also a fantastic feeling of camaraderie with writers from all over the world. Many people who complete NANO get that far and that's it, but many of us continue and finish the manuscript.
When I see so many of those 50K plus a few, I do wonder if folks just get that far and say, "Right, I'm done!" or do they then pick it up later. Of course that's an unknown, but it does make me wonder.
Right now I have a blessed word count; I'm past 50K and finished. What I'd love to see are as many as are able to hit that number, for the sheer joy of doing so (and donating even just a tenner towards keeping the NANO boat afloat). What happens afterwards is the writer's discretion…
30k or so as far as NaNoWriMo is concerned. It's my third year so I didn't expect much trouble, but I probably won't do it next year.
25k and half way there!